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I'm on a Rampage

10-06-2013, 10:04 AM

I signed up a new account with a large, stable plumbing supply house in my area. They sales guy made it a point to tell me he stays up late and that I can call anytime in emergencies. He said he also has a direct connection to the shop and will open it on weekends if needed.

Fast forward to yesterday - the hot water control for the power vent tank in the barn pipeline system dies. I call the sales guy, it goes to voice mail and I leave a message. No call back received. I called again this morning and leave message. 2 hours later, so far, no call back. I called the sales man I requested originally for the account and he picked up on the 3rd ring. He was in the middle of moving but made a huge effort to fire up his computer and look for the part.

There are 5 part revisions for this control. The correct revision has to be verified by Rheem/Ruud. I call Rheem/Ruud... and they're closed... What good is having a support system if it's not available when you need it? I would even be happy to have to wait on hold, knowing someone was going to pick up eventually.

That's total BS, next time the tank fails...it won't be Rheem going back in. Hells bells, even Navien has weekend support. AO Smith has normal business hours (CST) on Saturdays. That would have been fine for the time that I called...

... supply of new and used controls when I need to grab a part from the shop.

I have already started saving known good parts for emergencies. Not for sale, but 'to get you by until the new part is obtained.' I dont have a good power vent hwt control yet, though.

It's not cold here yet, so freezing is not an issue. The hot water in a pipeline system helps to dilute cleaning chemicals, remove milk scale, and kill bacteria. The scale and bacteria are the most important parts. High counts equate to large losses in milk payment monies, and, in the worst cases, prevent the trucks from picking up your product. After 3 days of no hot water the bacterial count is substantially larger. They would stand to lose more cash in 3 days than I make in nearly a month.

Comment

I've dealt with both A.O. Smith/State and Rheem's contractor services.

A.O.'s was absolutely NON-EXISTENT even during weekdays. Could have changed. But I got no-one.

Even had the two different suppliers just deal with it a couple of times. One called me back and said "We can't get anyone, just staying on hold...."

The other one called me back (different time/situation) and said "I just put the phone on speaker and set it down while I did other stuff. It's been an hour and a half, you want me to keep trying?"

I fortunately got the situations resolved 'cause I'm on the phone calling other plumbers & gas people locally at the same time hunting down what I need.

I've had to call Rheem twice and ALWAYS got someone after holding a reasonable amount of time. Then they were helpful. If they didn't know or were just looking at a drill-down troubleshooting guide, they would try to find someone else to resolve what was going on.

I have had nothing but negative results from A.O. Smith/State electric and gas over the last 7+ years. Finicky FVIR and premature tank failure. They are junk in my opinion with all kinds of engineering propaganda in front of them to make people think otherwise.

And I have an A.O. Smith in my house! One of the last runs of decent ones apparently as it is over 12 years old without any issues.

Comment

I do blame my supplier. He left some BS message on my phone about his cell 'being on the fritz over the weekend'. Amazing to me how on Monday morning it worked fine. At any rate, the other sales guy picked up and today finished tracking down the correct part. Not only that, he found the tank is still under warranty by our purchase date (manufacture date would put it out of warranty), is handling all the paperwork, and part transfer. Unfortunately, even the manufacturer doesnt have this control. It'll be 5 days drop-shipped from the control maker.

I may install AO Smith in a pinch, but it's not my first choice. In this case, the best option would be dual tankless units. This 75 gallon tank hinders the cooling capacity of the chiller unit. It blocks part of the coil.

~~

... it was plumbed by Ray Charles and his helper Stevie Wonder

Comment

It's the barn owner's fault. He has no business being in a situation where hot water could cost him financially. Not having hot water over the weekend and taking a cold shower is one thing but throwing milk away instead of selling it is dumb.

I have already started saving known good parts for emergencies. Not for sale, but 'to get you by until the new part is obtained.' I dont have a good power vent hwt control yet, though.

It's not cold here yet, so freezing is not an issue. The hot water in a pipeline system helps to dilute cleaning chemicals, remove milk scale, and kill bacteria. The scale and bacteria are the most important parts. High counts equate to large losses in milk payment monies, and, in the worst cases, prevent the trucks from picking up your product. After 3 days of no hot water the bacterial count is substantially larger. They would stand to lose more cash in 3 days than I make in nearly a month.

Comment

I agree with that sentiment but, in farming, it's ALWAYS about not having the funds to do anything. Then, when they try to save cash for the fix, something else pukes and the cash disappears... we'll fix it next time. bla bla bla... next time comes around and it's a huge emergency again. Some people never learn and it gets harder to feel bad for them and harder to go out of my way when the same emergency strikes again.

What they really need is a plate heat exchanger chiller for the bulk tank that recycles the heat for hot water.